Kevin Coleman AP Latin

1.31.12 AP VERGIL PAPER

In the lines 768-793 of The Aeneid Book 2, Creusa is shown to have accepted her fate while Aeneas desperately tries to save her, showing he has not accepted her fate. The big surprise in this scene is the manner in which Creusa conducts herself, showing a surprising maturity and resignation to her death. The first example of this can be seen in line 776 when Creusa says Why do you indulge in mad grief, sweet husband? This is displaying her acceptance to what has happened, also at this point we have learned that she is a ghost or a figure which cannot be grasped, so she has likely already died in the ransacking of Troy. Soon after she says that, in lines 783-784 Creusa says illic res laetae regnumque et regia coniunx parta tibi; lacrimas dilectae pelle Creusae. Which can be translated There you will have happiness, regale and a kingly wife; drive away tears for your cherished Creusa. Creusa shockingly is telling her husband to move on to a new land where he can remarry a woman worthy of a king very shortly after she and Aeneas were married. Creusa is in fact the one trying to help Aeneas follow through to his destiny, while he is too broken hearted over her to think about moving away from Troy without her. Furthermore in lines 785-788 Creusa says: I, A Trojan woman will never be a slave to a Greek woman. But, the great mother of the gods holds me back on these shores. So Creusa is pretty happy with her current situation. She knows if she had been captured by the Greeks her fate would have been to be a slave in Greece, and she is happier with Venus in heaven, which is the oris she refers to.

Aeneas, on the other hand, is not in nearly as calm a state of mind as his spouse Creusa. At the beginning of the passage, Aeneas is in a frenzied state looking through the streets of Troy calling out for Creusa, when he describes himself in lines 769-770 as in vain sadly redoubling my cries again and again. Aeneas clearly thinks he cannot live without Creusa at his side. Soon after, Creusa appears to him, where Aeneas again describes himself in a desperate state, saying I stood agape, hair stood straight and my voice stuck in my jaws. (Line 774). Besides the immediate shock of seeing his wife in such a dramatic fashion, Aeneas is so broken down he cant even speak or rejoice upon seeing his wife. During their conversation, Creusa proves herself to be the collected of the two, while Aeneas continues to be dumbfounded in Creusas presence. When Creusa disappears, Aeneas describes himself in lines 790-791 as left weeping wishing to say much displaying his outward emotions towards the circumstances surrounding his wifes death. Just after he is left weeping, he is said to have three times tried to throw his arms on her neck and three times I grasped at her image in vain. In this example of anaphora Aeneas is observed to have desperately tried to grasp his wifes ghost. Literally and figuratively speaking, Aeneas has not let go of Creusa.